The 10 Best Budget-friendly Things to do in Province of Vicenza, Veneto

Andrea Palladio’s last work and masterpiece, the Olympic Theatre was commissioned in February 1580 by the Accademia Olimpica, a society of mixed social classes founded in Vicenza in 1555 for cultural and scientific purposes and to which Palladio himself belonged. Construction began in May 1580, but Palladio died suddenly on 19 August of that year so did not see its completion. After various, complex delays, the theatre was completed five years later and opened on 3 March 1585 with the memorable staging of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus. The theatre is reached by way of the odeon and anti-odeon, two large rooms designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi and decorated respectively with frescoes by Francesco Maffei portraying divinities and allegorical figures (c. 1637) and a monochrome frieze of considerable documentary interest (c. 1595). This depicts theatrical productions presented by the Accademia before construction of the Olimpic Theatre (Amor costante, Sophonisba) and shows or events held in the new theatre (Oedipus the King, the diplomatic mission of Japanese envoys). Palladio designed a monumental scenae frons within an enclosed space intended to simulate classical theatres in the open air. It is flanked by two wings or stage doors and a semi-elliptical cavea with thirteen tiers, ending in a columned exedra at the top, partly open and partly with niches in the wall. Statues of the academicians who commissioned the theatre, dressed in classical costume, occupy the niches and plinths of the structure. A series of splendid bas reliefs showing stories of Hercules by Ruggero Bascape occupies the highest row. Wooden perspective scenery of the streets of Thebes runs back from the three openings in the scenea frons. This was designed by Scamozzi for the opening performance of Oedipus Tyrannus and has remained as a permanent feature

The project of the Foundation - a private non-profit organization that is open to the public – arosefrom the attention and sensitivity towards the culture of design and architecture that have always driven Bisazza. The Bisazza Foundation has a dual vocation: it is intended as an exhibition space to bring together works and installations by contemporary designers and architects who, over the course of the last 20 years, have created original applications for mosaics; it is also proposed as a cultural subject in continuous interaction with other international institutions for the purposes of hosting projects and exhibitions of design and architecture, not necessarily associated with mosaics.

The Palladian Basilica is a public building facing onto the Piazza dei Signori. Its name is linked to Andrea Palladio, who redesigned it, adding the famous loggias with serliana openings in white marble to the existing Gothic building. The building on which Palladio worked was the Palazzo della Ragione, built in Gothic style in the mid-fifteenth century. The upper floor is entirely taken up by an enormous hall with no intermediate supports, where the Council of the Four Hundred met. The copper-lined, inverted ship’s-hull roof was inspired by that of the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua. The Gothic facade was originally clad with diamonds of red and straw yellow Verona marble, which are still visible behind Palladio’s addition. A loggia surrounding the building was commissioned after its completion, but continually delayed due to various structural difficulties and the nature of the ground beneath. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the double order of porticoes and loggias, though not complete, collapsed. The Council called on many leading architects of the time to resolve the difficult problem of its reconstruction. They included Jacopo Sansovino, Sebastiano Serlio and Giulio Romano. The project was awarded to Andrea Palladio (1508-80) in 1549, following a competition, and he worked on it for the rest of his life. It was completed posthumously in 1614. The reconstructed building was called a basilica by Palladio himself, who had been inspired by the model of the Roman basilica for civic use. The building has three independent exhibition spaces that are used to host architecture and art exhibitions of international renown.

This marvelous bridge made in wood, named Ponte Degli Alpini, is dated from 1209, although it was rebuilt some times along the centuries. It is also called Ponte Vecchio, and the view one can enjoy from it, over the Brenta river and facing the Alpes during the Winter, is simply great !

Palazzo Sturm, dal cui belvedere si può godere di un’impareggiabile panorama sul fiume Brenta e sul Ponte Vecchio, fu donato al Comune di Bassano dal barone Giovanni Battista Sturm von Hirschfeld nel 1943. La preziosa dimora voluta da Vincenzo Ferrari, importante industriale e commerciate di sete, venne edificata verso la metà del XVIII secolo. L’edificio conta oltre settanta stanze distribuite su sette livelli e decorate dal pittore veronese Giorgio Anselmi nel 1760 circa. I soggetti mitologici e allegorici, rappresentati con un gusto che richiama la maniera dei cosiddetti trionfi barocchi romano-bolognesi, alludono alle imprese commerciali ed economiche della manifattura della famiglia Ferrari. Attualmente il palazzo ospita il Museo della Ceramica Giuseppe Roi, che raccoglie collezioni di ceramiche antiche, il Museo della Stampa Remondini, dedicato alla tipografia e calcografia della celebre famiglia di imprenditori grafici.

Ospitato nell’ex convento dei frati francescani, il Museo Civico di Bassano del Grappa è uno dei musei più antichi del Veneto e le sue prime collezioni artistiche risalgono al 1840, momento in cui affiancava, nei locali del convento, il Ginnasio, il Liceo Convitto e la Biblioteca. Attualmente ospita la più grande raccolta di opere di Jacopo Da Ponte, oltre all’ala dedicata ad Antonio Canova dove, tra i gessi e i busti, sono conservati quei monocromi che i grandi critici hanno definito come esito massimo della sua espressività artistica. Dal 2014 il Museo Civico può contare sulla nuova Galleria Civica destinata alle mostre temporanee oltre ad un’area specifica destinata alla didattica museale.